Today, Tsunekazu Ishihara, the President of The Pokemon Company came to us on Youtube to deliver us a whole bunch of short information bits, including trailers for new IP’s that they are working on.
Not the first title to be announced in the stream, but a brand new Pokemon Snap, rightfully titled New Pokemon Snap, is coming to the Nintendo Switch. No release date has been shown yet, although a lot of the trailer looks like it could be actual gameplay, we aren’t certain yet. The new title looks to include Pokemon from first generation Pokemon all the way to the current generation of Sword and Shield.
Two titles announced today where Pokemon Smile and Pokemon Cafe Mix.
Pokemon Smile is a smartphone app, available now, designed with young children in mind to keep them entertained while brushing their teeth. Using your phones front facing camera, the app uses AR technology to put a cute Pokemon hat on your child, and overlays a virtual set of teeth in front of them on the screen.
By your child brushing their teeth, it cleans the teeth on screen, with little Pokemon cheering them on. After your child is done brushing their teeth, they are rewarded with a Pokemon Go-like mechanic to catch a Pokemon. Children can also swiped through their collected Pokemon, which displays very basic information on them, like height, weight, and typing.
Pokemon Cafe Mix is a new smartphone-like game being made for the Switch and smartphones.
You take on the role of the owner of a cafe the Pokemon like to frequent. 2D based, you progress in the game by completing puzzles, which consist largely in swiping on the screen to connect Pokemon head icons together to clear them off screen.
As you complete puzzles, Pokemon that are donned in adorable French-style clothing can join your cafe as part of the staff. The Pokemon also have specialties for what dishes they can make, along with skills. For instance Squirtle’s specialty is small plates, and its skill is it clears Pokemon icons and gimmicks to the right.
You can also upgrade your cafe with new areas and amenities to further progress, which also attracts new Pokemon. It will be free-to-start, and is available for preorder in the App Store and preregistration through Google Play now, along with preload on the Nintendo Switch system. No release date has been set yet, but the trailer did say “Available Soon.”
More news has surfaced as well for Pokemon Go. Ishihara talked about the continued availability of being able to play Pokemon Go from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including remote raids, being able to carry more gifts, as well as getting bonus research daily.
Pokemon Go Fest this year will also be completely digital, and will be available to players worldwide. Pokemon also announced that a special Pokemon will be available, Victini, revealed by a silhouette of the Pokemon.
Along with the Pokemon Go Fest announcement, Pokemon announced that Mega Evolutions will be released this year. Another Pokemon Go related announcement also came at the end of the stream saying that Galarian Farfetch’d is now available in the game, as well as special avatar items themed with the release of the Isle of Armor DLC for Pokemon Sword and Shield.
The Presents stream also touched on the new Isle of Armor DLC, which releases today. As a special celebration for the launch, a new max raid featuring Zeraora will be available starting today. As a challenge to all players, between 6/17 and 6/28, if one million trainers defeat Zeraora in max raid battles, everyone playing Pokemon Sword and Shield can receive the Zeraora which is also a shiny. Zeraora cannot be caught during the max raids though.
As a final closing statement, Ishihara stated that there is another big project that Pokemon are working on, and he wants to share it next week in another Pokemon Presents on June 24th, next week.
You can watch the Pokemon Presents here, and let us know in the comments what you thought of today’s announcements!
